Siglo XVI: exploraciones portuguesas y españolas que conectarán a los europeos con la India y el Nuevo Mundo.

1. THE AGE OF
DISCOVERIES

2. THE WORLD IN
1400
•At the beginning of the 15th century, Europeans
knew little more than Europe and the lands around
the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
•The existence of India, China and Japan was shown
by Marco Polo’s journeys and the trade routes that
brought silk and spices to Europe. However, not very
much was known about these lands.
•The rest of the World was a total mystery.
Europeans had not explored most of Asia and Africa
continents, and they did not know that America and
Oceania existed.

3. MARCO
POLO
Marco Polo was a Venetian
trader and explorer who,
together with his father
and uncle, was one of the
first Westerners to travel
the Silk Road to China and
visited the Great Khan of
the Mongol Empire.

4. In the 15th century, European countries made
many maritime expeditions. There were
different reasons for this:
•Firstly, they needed to find new trade
routes to the East. In 1453, the Turks
conquered Constantinople, and took over
the Byzantine Empire. This blocked the
trade routes between Europe and Asia.
Consequently, Europeans had to look for
new routes to Asia, round the African
coast or across the Atlantic Ocean.
•Secondly, there were a number of
technical advances which improved
navigation:
•New maps called “portulan
charts” were developed. They
showed the coastline and any
obstacles at sea. Straight lines
showed the shortest distance among
different points.
•Navigational instruments, such as
the compass, the astrolabe and the
quadrant, were developed.
•Ships, such as caravels, were
improved and, consequently, could
travel longer distances.

7. HENRY THE
NAVIGATOR
Prince Henry sponsored many expeditions from
Portugal to the west coast of Africa. His expeditions
succeed in mapping much of the coast of west-Africa
and in spreading Christianity, defeating Muslims and
establishing new trade routes.
In 1419, Prince Henry started the first school of
navigation at Sagres, Portugal. The goal of the school
was to train people in navigation, map-making and
science to prepare them to sail around the west coast
of Africa.

8. PORTUGUESE
EXPEDITIONS
•Portugal looked for a new sea route to India around the coast of Africa (15th century).
The Portuguese monarchs and Prince Henry the Navigator organised various
expeditions.
•The Madeira Islands were discovered in 1418 and the Azores in 1431. Later expeditions
explored the African coast.
•In 1488, Bartolomé Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the southern trip of Africa,
opening the sea route to the Indian Ocean. In 1498, Vasco de Gama reached India.
•The Portuguese established trading posts along the new routes. Portugal created a great
empire and became a world power.
Vasco de Gama
Bartolomé Dias

9. PORTUGUESE
EXPLORATIONS OF
AFRICA
The Portuguese found an alternative sea
route to India and South-east Asia by
exploring African coast. At that time
overland routes to Asia were controlled by
the Muslims.

11. BARTHOLOMEU DIAS
He sailed around the southernmost tip of
Africa in 1488, the first European known to
have done so.
The discovery of the passage around
southern Africa was significant because, for
the first time, Europeans realized they
could trade directly with India and the
other parts of Asia
A fierce, 13 day storm blew his ship
off course rounding the tip of
Africa. He only realized how far he
had gone when the skies cleared.

12. VASCO DA GAMA
In his first voyage, da Gama managed to reach Calicut in India and sail back home.

16. CASTILIAN
EXPEDITIONS
•The Crown of Castile was Portugal’s
biggest rival in the search for new routes
to India.
•As the portuguese where exploring
African coast, the Castilians decided to
sail to the west across the Atlantic,
circumnavigating the Earth to reach the
Indies.
•This plan was very risky. Crossing the
Atlantic was terrifying. It involved sailing
a long way from the coast into unknown
waters. And if the Earth was flat, there
would be and edge to fall off and
monsters and mythological beings.

18. THE DISCOVERY OF
AMERICA
•Christopher Columbus was a Genoese sailor. He was convinced that he
could reach the eastern coast of Asia by crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
Columbus thought that the world was round, although some people still
believed that it was flat.
•He presented his project to the Catholic Monarchs, who decided to
finance the expedition. On 3 August 1492 an expedition of ninety sailors
and three ships, the Pinta, the Niña and the Santa María, left the port of
Palos de la Frontera, in Huelva.
•But Columbus’ calculations were wrong. He thought the Earth was
much smaller than it actually was. Weeks passed without Columbus and
his men seeing signs of land. The crew complained. Finally, they saw
land on 12 October 1492. Columbus thought he had reached Cipango
(Japan), but the land belonged to an unknown continent.

20. CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS VOYAGES
•After the first expedition, Columbus made
three more expeditions to explore and
establish Castilian dominion of these
territories. On the second voyage, a faster
and safer route to America was found. On
his last two voyages, Columbus explored
part of the coast of Central and South
America.
•In 1504, Columbus finally returned to
Spain, where he died two years later, still
firmly convinced that he had reached
India.
•However, in 1502 an Italian sailor,
Americo Vespucci, had already realised
that these lands belonged to a new
continent. Later, the continent was named
America in his honour.

21. THE FIRST VOYAGE
AROUND THE WORLD
•In 1519 an expedition of five boats and 250 sailors left Seville, captained by
Fernando de Magallanes, with his second-in-command, Juan Sebastián
Elcano. Their goal was to find a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans to the Molucas, or Spice Islands.
•In 1520, they found a strait connecting Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It was
later named Strait of Magallanes. They sailed on to the Philippines. There,
Magallanes was killed in a fight with the natives, and Elcano took command.
The expedition headed for the Molucas and loaded up with valuable spices.
Then, they sail for Spain.
•After three years, only eighteen men and one ship, the Victoria, returned.
They were the first to circumnavigate the world and prove that the Earth
was round.
Juan Sebastián El Cano
Fernando de Magallanes

23. THE CONSEQUENCES
OF DISCOVERIES
• Portugal and Spain created great
overseas empires.
• They were divided between in the Treaty
of Tordesillas (1499). A line of demarcation
was established. Portugal received
territories east of the line: Africa, Asia and
Brazil, which was discovered later. Castile
received territories west of the line: most of
the territories in the Americas.
• These explorations marked the beginning
of European supremacy over the rest of the
world.

24. •The discovery brought major
progress in science. Knowledge of the
lands and oceans on the planet became
more accurate. Many new plant and
animal species were discovered.
•One of the most important
consequences of the discoveries was the
contact among different people.
Knowledge was exchanged. However,
diseases introduced by the Europeans
caused a dramatic decline in the
indigenous population of America.